Chapter 21

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"Mr. Chung did a hell of a job while I was down." Rachel noted the voice of Andrea coming from the wardroom, hesitating if she should enter or not. Last time she saw Andrea, she had luckily been out of it, the second last time, she had openly questioned her beliefs and knowledge about the virus, and the time before that, had definitely not gone well. She still remembered the strong slap against her cheekbone. The woman seemed to be tough as nails, body and mind.

She saw the small ignorant nod from Mike's part through the small opening in the doorway, and it did seem that Tom's XO was rather uptight this particular morning.

"Is this about the paperwork?" She heard Andrea ask and Mike hissed a little through his teeth as he took a sip of his coffee. She didn't mean to, but she was eavesdropping. She had been standing long enough on the still corridor listening to call it that.

"Apparently it has to be done today." Mike rolled his eyes.

"Well you know our Captain, he wants things done by the book."

Mike's reply was a amused scoff with the words.. "Captain has had a stick up his ass the last few days.."

While leaning slightly against the door with her hand she wondered if Tom's behavior was about their old-new breakup that might be the reason to his mood swings lately.

The door opened slightly as Rachel's hand had too much weight on it, and so she got a odd look out of Andrea and Mike.

"Good morning." She added rather quickly, trying to hide the fact that she had been standing behind the door longer than she should have. She walked briskly to the coffee stand ignoring the speculative looks from the two in the room.

Mike left the room shortly after saying he had paperwork to stare at.

"Dr. Scott.." She heard Andrea clear her throat and turned around. Hoping she wouldn't get another slap on her face.

"I wouldn't be here.. if it weren't for you. So I would like to say. Thank you." She noticed the uncomfortable posture Andrea held, seeing from her body language that she wasn't sure how to make her mind heard, but she was glad she went with a straight approach.

"I just did what I was told to do." Rachel said humbly. Holding the coffee cup in her hands and slightly blowing to the hot content.

"Thank you." Andrea made eye contact with her this time around and she nodded.

"Well, good morning ladies." Tex entered giving them a short nod while tugging his caps down a bit as he greeted them.

"Morning Tex." Andrea replied and left her alone with the strange man that has been following her around. Oddly showing up in places she just happens to occupy at the time. No wonder Tom had been jealous.

She took a small sip of her coffee, burning her tongue in the process as she noted it was still rather hot.

"Everything okay Doc?" Tex took a cup from the shelf and poured some coffee in it.

"I'm just hoping we'll find what we are looking for in Costa Rica." She made eye contact with the man for a brief moment before taking her leave from the room.

As she came to the doorway she was met with a familiar body almost crashing into her. She really didn't dare to meet his eyes, knowing perfectly well that he had avoided her the last few days. It's been Mike who has kept her in the loop about what's going on.

He walked passed her without so much as a 'hello' and stepped into the wardroom and started talking with Tex.

She left to walk back to the lab and it seemed that Tom wasn't happy with his own decision, no matter how true he wanted to be towards his wife back home. But it was something to admire about him, there was no guarantee that his family was still alive. She sighed and wondered if he was mad at her about her secrecy again. But this wasn't just on her, the orders had come from a higher power.

"This was my mother. Elizabeth." Rachel sat beside Kara by her desk as they were glancing through some pictures she had with her.

"She died of Malaria." She let out with a bitter tone as it still was painful to think about her passing.

"I heard about it from my.." Mom. She wanted to say but wasn't sure what to call Debbie around Rachel.

"It's okay. She is.. Was your mother. I won't be offended if you call her that." Rachel said and felt she couldn't really ask her for anything else. She had after all given her up for a adoption. And it was still a long way to go before they would have a real mother-daughter relationship.

The opening of the door to the lab disrupted their talk and they saw Mike walk in.

"Sorry to bother you Dr. Scott, but I have some concerns about Costa Rica. We're picking up all kinds of distress signals coming out of there and I wonder.. Is there another place to find your monkeys?"

Rachel thought over his words for a moment and quickly went through the list she had made for the search in her mind.

"I suppose we could try Nicaragua."

"There's a monkey reserve there. Should be uninhabited." She pulled up a map from her desk and showed him the spot. Option number 2 would have to do, she thought.

"Sounds good to me, although looks like it's 30 miles up that river.." Mike stood in thought and Kara knew exactly what the hiccup would be.

"Is that a problem?" Rachel got up and Mike gave the map back to her.

"We can't get the ship in there. So it will be small teams with RHIB's." Kara explained.

"Exactly. But if it's our only choice. We'll just have to plan it well." Mike stated and turned to leave the room.

"Oh and Mike.. I'm coming with you." Rachel said which got Mike to turn himself slowly around. And before he could give his clear 'not a chance' answer, Rachel continued on "Unless you can tell the difference between a Capuchin tufted and a Geoffroy's spider monkey.."

Rachel crossed her arms over her chest and saw from Mike's face that he couldn't win this round with her. So a small faint smile escaped to her lips as she finally had the XO without words.

A small grunt of a "Fine" was all she heard before Mike left the lab.

She couldn't help but chuckle at his behavior and got a smile out of Kara too.

"Am I still going to be grounded on the ship?" Kara got up and she met her gaze.

"I'm immune, so I can't die." Kara pleaded.

"Can't die of the virus but it doesn't mean you're invincible." Rachel laid out the facts.

"But you said it was uninhabited.. And you're going." Kara continued on.

Now it was Rachel's turn to feel defeated, knowing exactly how the XO must feel right now. After all when the word would get out that Kara was indeed her daughter, and that she had kept her on the ship instead of out in the field, it might be misinterpreted. Even if she was a vital key in their hopes of making a vaccine.

Andrea handed Mike the tranquilizer gun and gave him a firm look.

"Keep your guard up out there, sailor."

Her comment got a chuckle out of Mike as he checked the gun for one more time. "I wasn't born yesterday." He said with a playful tone as he remembered their talk back in Gitmo.

"I know. But you've been playing Battleship for too long." Andrea gave him a wink and he replied with a smug smile "Trust me, you're not getting rid of me just yet."

"Just keep sharp and remember, we'll most likely fall out of radio range. So green.." Mike began explaining as if Andrea was just a newbie in this job.

"Green means all is okay and red means things are not okay." Andrea gave Mike a knowing look and he left to go aboard one of the RHIB's. Andrea walked back to the bridge to inform the crew.

"We're gonna hope we never see that red flare, but we're prepared in case we do." She ended her talk to the crew on the bridge.

"I need a dedicated lookout on the bridge wing." She gave an order to OOD Granderson.

"Aye, Commander." Words from Granderson got her thinking.

Commander. She was still short of her full Commander title, but she got this, she psyched herself up and let out a stress filled sigh. This was nothing she couldn't handle. Was this how Mike had it every time?

"You're staying here." At least he was talking to her again but ordering her around seemed to be his best tactic to keep her at a distance. She was waiting on one of the RHIB's as Tom took a team to the jungle.

"Hey, uh, Doc, you got a fella?" Tex's question about her being single made her flinch involuntary. Her heart was not open for anyone right now. Sure Tex seemed like an alright guy, but there was just something missing. And then her thoughts briefly went to Michael 'the twice-monthly screw' that Quincy had called her acquaintance. He was probably the closest thing she had had to a relationship of some sorts during all these years. There was fondness there, although her heart was never entirely open for him. She did wonder if he had gotten her video on time.

Kara stood with Burk on watch and heard the question Tex gave her mother and glanced briefly at Rachel. She seemed to be thinking and she had noticed the cold front between her and Tom lately.

It had all started when she and Danny had told them they were engaged. Although it was something they had already known about.

"Welcome to the family." Tom said almost in unison with Rachel and they shared an odd look. Kara wasn't sure what was going on as she glanced at her parents.

After a brief moment Tom offered his hand to Danny who seemed to be slightly nervous at the thought, but took Tom's hand and gave him a tight squeeze. Making sure he wasn't one of those who just shook hands like it was a dead fish.

"Thank you, sir." Danny replied keeping up with the formalities.

"Right now I'm not the Captain." Tom smiled and his eyesight met with Kara's and she smiled shyly. This was a strange moment. She was thinking his 'Welcome to the family' speech, she had hardly gotten into the family herself and now suddenly Danny was part of the family too.

"Yes, sir." They all chuckled a bit to Danny's strict following rules attitude all of a sudden. After all she knew he didn't want to disappoint the Captain now.

"You can relax a bit." Kara bumped shoulders with Danny, getting a small look from him.

Tom was serving a small complimentary coffee in his cabin and they all sat down around the small couch table and she saw the awkward glances her parents shared. And it had been a tough task to keep the conversation flowing.

"There is someone.. Was someone." She listened to the sad tone of Rachel's voice. She hadn't asked but she did wonder if something had happened between her and Tom.

"You?" Rachel's voice got more unattached as she tried to focus the attention on Tex, instead of her.

"Oh, I'm a bit of a rolling stone, as you might imagine." Tex's reply got her to meet eyes with Burk as they both smiled a bit at the conversation going behind them.

"A man your age, never married?"

"A man my age?" Tex laughed as if he was being referred to Santa Claus.

Kara had trouble keeping her mouth from opening up in laughter as she listened to the conversation.

"Hit a soft spot, did I?" Rachel's confident voice flew in the air.

"Oh, I'm 2-percent body fat, honey. Ain't no soft spot to hit." Tex's was overly satisfied with his reply.

"Except for that 2 percent." Rachel stated victoriously, enjoying the fact that her mind had been busy for a moment. For a moment she wasn't thinking about Tom and the relationship she would never have with him. Perhaps it was best that he 'broke up' with her even though they were never together, but clearly he never had let go of her. And the question was, had she let go of him?

"You are out of here now! Back to the James!"

Tom's words were on her mind as she paced herself in the wardroom. Waiting for the Chief Engineer to come and debrief with her.

She told Commander Garnett what she knew of the area. Northern bank of the river was their best option right now.

"You have no reason to believe there's any human population there?" Andrea asked.

"No, but I didn't think there'd be any on the southern side either." She had to admit the fact to Andrea. Knowing all too well who were on the mission.

The uneasiness in Andrea's body language was telling her she too was worried. This didn't sound right.

"So once they are out of radio range, they can't come back in, correct?" She wanted to double check what she had learned from Kara.

"It'll be flares from here on out." Andrea confirmed her doubts. This was not good at all, she thought.

"We just have to hope the weather is clear enough that we can even see them."

"Perhaps you should send a backup team out there on the other RHIB?" She made the suggestion carefully.

"Captain would've specified that."

"Protocol is 48 hours, unless we get that red flare."

She felt like stomping her feet on the ground like a two year old toddler as she thought about the Navy and their rules and protocols. This was the end of the world and they still did things by the book.

"Damn it." She let out in frustration as she glanced at the clock. 48 hours..

She was standing on a boat and glanced through her binoculars. The jungle seemed to be restless as the winds were blowing on the trees and she could swear she heard screaming. Screaming from people. "Help us!" "Please!" She remembered the faces of the people in Egypt as she walked through the crowd of sick people, ignoring them as she was there to collect a sample. Nothing more.

But there was nothing she could do to help them.

She glanced around and felt terrified as she was all alone. No one was with her.

"You've got no friends" Quincy's voice echoed through the landscape like he was a ghost.

She turned around and tripped over, falling to a sandy beach instead of the water. She lifted herself up from the ground and as she sat on the beach she saw her hands filled with bloodily stains. She studied her skin more carefully and the stains looked like the bleeding sores of the virus. Oh god she had the virus! Her heart began racing even more as she tried to wipe the sores away like it was only dust. But it didn't help. Then there was something that was putting weight on her entire body.. It was closing in on her face and she felt it pressing down on her chest like she was drowning, even though she was on the beach..

She opened her eyes as she gasped for air, and it took a moment to gather her whereabouts. She was with Tex. He was trying to calm her down.

She breathed deeply as she thought about her dream.

"Something's happened." She had a feeling in her gut and it was the same one she had when they went aboard the cruise ship.

"No." Tex shook his head but he didn't get it. She knew something was wrong.

"No, I know it." She stated as her gaze went from one place to another as she thought about all the possible explanations.

"We saw the flare a couple of hours ago. It was green. Green's good." Tex gave her an assuring look and she nodded, still in disbelief.

"Trust me, it's just a dream." Tex said one more time and she sighed. Just a dream.

In the morning she stood beside Kara on the bow of the ship staring at the horizon. She hadn't gotten much sleep after her nightmare of a dream. She crossed her arms over her chest tightly as it felt she was cold despite it being sunshine outside. She felt Kara's arm around her back and she leaned against her shoulder.

"They'll be back." She heard Kara's voice but noticed that she too hadn't slept much during the night.

"Just got word. They're on their way back." They we're alerted by Tex who came to stand beside them. Informing them that they were returning.

"All of them?" Rachel was holding her breath as she waited for his reply. Please tell me, they are all coming back. She couldn't help but worry over Tom even though that foolish man had left her behind him, once and for all. But she couldn't turn of her feelings like a switch. She loved him, always had and always will.

"Mm-hm. All of them." Tex said and she smiled. Even Kara gave her a gentle rub on her back.

"Uh, plus a boatload of monkeys." Tex added with humor.

Oh the monkeys! She had almost forgotten the real reason why they had gone to the jungle in the first place.

About Michael: I don't remember if the name of Rachel's boyfriend was mentioned on the series, however I somehow think him as Michael.. And the comment about her sending a video to him before departing to the Arctic - On Season 1 DVD under Special Features, there is a video she sends him, telling him to travel more north and so on.. ;) (on that video she actually calls him Bob..)